BaalServant, I'm glad you made this comic! Christians are always trying to claim that they can "harmonize" the four gospels, rather than admitting that the gospels contradict each other. They could learn something from your illustration.

Anyway, I wonder if this could be an effective tool if it were not overly sarcastic in the dialog? Don't get me wrong, it is funny, and does point out the silliness of the stories. But I found myself wondering about the effect of putting some dialog that more closely resembles the scripture, maybe in one of the more modern versions?

This is a really excellent approach and might even work on the vulnerable children! Think of the children!

You have some great talent there, and patience to draw all of that out!

Hi, I'm new here but I kind of agree with Jetson...there is rom for a second strip that actually uses the text of the bible. It would probably hit home more with theists. It probably wouldn't be as funny, but might make the contradictions in the stories more obvious. Remember, most christians don't read the bible and most of the humor in the original strip will be lost on them. If you give them chapter & verse on a common translation they might actually see the contradictions. Just my two cents...

Hi, I'm new here but I kind of agree with Jetson...there is rom for a second strip that actually uses the text of the bible. It would probably hit home more with theists.

The more I look at it, tschmidt, the more I find myself agreeing with you and Jetson.

My paraphrasing does distract a lot from what the real point is, and giving theists any point to disagree with tends to reinforce their belief that their myth must be true.

I'll work on making an unedited comparison.

Another idea I was thinking of was shifting the panels to have the events line up vertically to make it even easier to compare the four scenarios. My initial reason for not laying it out that way was the fact that it would take up much more space, but it's already a bit of a behemoth, so I might as well.

I can see tschmidt and jetson's points. But personally I love the irreverent version.

I guess you'll just have to make two, and whip them out for different audiences!

Agreeing. The sarcasm makes the point, it really is foolishness to pretend they're compatible stories. Theists will chalk up any discrepancies to being superfluous details, like the color of the women's hair or something completely unimportant. Besides, being embarrassed to be a part of a group so obviously clueless about what their group really is can be hard to shake off. Ask me how I know.

So I guess the question is, which version should I use? I usually quote from the niv, since that's biblegateway's default, and I like their site's searchability.

Does anyone recommend a different version that wouldn't be subject to the 'translation error' defense, or is more accepted for some reason?

To Larissa238 - It's easy! All you have to do is be an anal retentive bastard like myself. : )

To curiousgirl - Thanks - I've posted this a few times on craigslist, and gotten the response that, 'they're told from four different perspectives.' Like you said, they could learn from it, but they refuse to admit that blatant contradictions are different than different ways of seeing things. I'll keep trying though.

To Jetson - yes, I think I shall include the vertical alignment. As it is, it takes too much effort for some to line up the discrepancies.

To jedweber - Irreverence is a favorite tool of mine. I like presenting an idea that sounds preposterous at first, but the more you think about it, the less you can honestly disagree with it.

Laughing out loud at your use of whipping them out. : )

To albeto - Does your handle have any relation to the word, "albedo?" I've always loved that word.

Along the same lines as what I was saying to jedweber, yeah, I initially soaked it with sarcasm as a nod to religion's way of disregarding reality to make things appear in an irrational light, and as an attempt to point out the hypocrisy in supporting sarcastic delusions of theological grandeur, yet disagreeing with my sarcastic disagreement of theological fallacy.

I'm embarrassed when people celebrate freedom by lighting fireworks made by kids in China. I'm embarrassed by our insistence on having cleaning products coupled with our insistence, or at least implied consent, that they be manufactured in India lest we spoil the great U.S. I'm embarrassed by a lot of the hypocrisy that I embody every day that I consume more than I could ever produce.

What are you embarrassed about? : )

To any biblical theists who care to delve into the realm of intellectual honesty - How do you say that the contradictions in the bible aren't contradictions?

To my 40 of Pabst - thank you, but you are getting low. Time to load up msPaint. : )

ni I am new to this website and from tons of research also ten years of being an atheist only to give the god thing a try again then, more extensive research I have come to the conclusion that most of the world is seriously delusional. I live unfortunately in the bible belt and everyone I know is god fearing people. The awakening I had has absolutely pissed me off. I feel like I just awoke from a 57 year lie. Spoon fed god as all of us probably have. I am angry that religion has poisoned so many people including me. I see a therapist and even he is a christian. How in the world can he hep me if he is delusional? Boy, he is gonna get an earful our next appointment.

Welcome to the Forums. A fellow Bible Belt ex-Christian here. I live kinda close to San Antonio in Texas. I feel like if I go foward and put my IXNAY fish on my car, it will be vandalized if anyone here were able to figure out what it means... or just the fact it doesn't say JESUS will be enough.

Back then it was my SPAG or Self Projection As God that started my loss in faith. Later, it is knowledge that the Buybull was written by ignorant goat herders that had no idea how the world works.

SPAG is why 2 True Christians™ who both completely agree with God in everything, will disagree with each other on religious points like Abortion, Sunday/Saturday, Tithe, Original Sin, and basically everything else, and why there are over 38,000 denominations of Christianity.

ie. A sexist wo/man worships a sexist Jesus/God. A racist wo/man worships a racist Jesus/God. One who is neither worships a Jesus/God that is neither.